It was a medium-range surface-to-air missile tested within China, the ministry said in a brief statement, adding that the test was defensive in nature and not aimed at any country.
Anti-ballistic missile systems are designed to protect a country from potential attacks by using projectiles to intercept incoming missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Some analysts liken it to removing a bullet to another.
This is China’s sixth known test of a ground-based anti-ballistic missile, according to the state-run Global Times. The country has been conducting similar tests since 2010, usually every few years.
On Sunday, China last launched an anti-ballistic missile test in February 2021, according to state media.
“China plans to build a multi-layered multi-component missile defense system,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s nuclear policy program.
These efforts are aimed at dealing with short-range, medium-range and long-range missiles; China has so far developed the HQ9 and HQ19 missile defense systems for the first two and has not yet publicly announced the development of a system that can intercept longer-range ballistic missiles and intercontinental missiles, Zhao said.
It is unclear which system was tested on Sunday, as Chinese authorities did not release any additional information.
But judging by the size of the enclosed airspace, it could be a mid-range HQ19, similar to the US High Altitude Defense System (THAAD) or a different new mid-range system, Zhao said.
It looks similar to the hit-to-kill missiles used by the United States, he added, citing technology that allows the interceptor to strike and completely destroy incoming threats.
The test comes amid growing tensions in the region, with a recent series of missile tests from North Korea, including short-range ballistic missiles and a presumed ICBM. Officials in South Korea and the United States also warned that the resumption of operations at North Korea’s nuclear test site suggests that the country could conduct a nuclear test every day – the first since 2017.
South Korean President Yun Suk Yol, who took office in May, has vowed to take a tougher line on North Korea – and has suggested he seeks a second anti-ballistic missile system.
In 2016, when South Korea announced it would deploy the US-built THAAD system, sparking long-standing diplomatic feuds with China, which said the missile defense system would threaten its own national security.
THAAD is designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles and is used by the US military to protect units in places such as Guam and Hawaii.
Despite criticism of South Korea’s use of THAAD, China has good reason to develop its own missile shield program, Zhao said.
“China simply cannot be left behind in this important area of military-technological competition,” he said. “China is looking at other major powers. The United States is a major concern, but Russia is also developing increasingly capable missile defense technologies.”
And while North Korea’s missile tests have alarmed South Korea and Western observers, Beijing’s friendly relations with the North mean it may be more concerned about other threats, such as India, with which it shares long-simmering border tensions, and the United States. which has deployed military assets in the region near China.
Earlier in May, China criticized the United States for deploying medium-range ballistic missiles in the Asia-Pacific region, saying it had a “serious negative impact” on international arms control.
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